"I felt like I was a World Cup titlist again," Beneke said, adding that he considers himself fat and out of shape now. "I was doing wheelies uphill. ... It's just like you're riding your bike again."

Electric bicycle manufacturers use the word enable often. But rarely has the connotation involved gears and motors and getting more people to pedal more often.

E-bikes are exceedingly popular in Europe, where in recent years more than 1.1 million e-bikes from about 50 companies have replaced cars for commuters and offered an alternative for recreation enthusiasts and rehabilitation patients.

But the trend has hasn't exactly had the same spark in the United States.

Bosch, the global company known for things from home appliances to spark plugs, hopes to ignite the same interest in the United States. It's part of the first-time offering of e-bikes in the 24-year history of the Festival of Cycling at Laguna Seca Recreation Area.

Traditionally known brands from Giant to Specialized to Trek have offered e-bikes for several years. But cycling purists say they are bulky.

But that has changed. Battery packs are now drastically streamlined and many e-bikes now have shed about one-third of their overall former weight.

"It feels like you're riding a regular bike, but you have a tailwind," said Brett Thurber, 27, who was test-driving the bikes on Thursday. "It matches your precision."

Haibike, LaPierre and Felt are new e-bike manufacturers. Felt had five bike models on display in the expansive Laguna Seca expo arena. It offered city and commuter bikes and mountain bikes for men and women priced at about $4,000. And there's also the cycling version of an all-terrain vehicle with obese tires and a tank-strong frame called the Lebowski. It's priced at about $6,000.

"With electric bikes, there are a lot of different stories to be told," Brian Darney, director of brand marketing for Felt, said Thursday. "One story I heard recently was from a father who hadn't been on a bike for 20 years but whose son is a good mountain biker. He said, 'How cool it would be if I could go riding with my son?'

"I call them enabler stories; the bikes are just really good enablers."

New-generation e-bikes, unlike their predecessors, have different levels of electric assistance, all engaged from pedaling. The system is monitored by cadence and speed, and in modes from eco to turbo.

But if the electric charge is low or a rider wants to pedal without assistant, they can.

Claudia Wasko, a spokeswoman for the automotive and electric divisions of Bosch, said the future of electric bikes is based on a simple task — a cyclist still has to pedal.

Previous generations of e-bikes were throttle controlled and not often easy to control when maneuvered up or down hills. The character of the new e-bike, says Wasko, is to have its own pedaling system.

E-bikes sales began primarily as an exercise product for older buyers, many of whom had not ridden a bike since their youth. Couples or friends of all ages with different skill levels are now using e-bikes to ride at the same pace.

"It used to be 60-plus, then 50-plus and now there are many, many people 40-plus riding e-bikes," Wasko said. "They are using them not only for commuting but for recreational reasons."

E-bikes are available for testing throughout the Sea Otter Classic, which continues through Sunday. Wasko reminded those interested to bring a helmet.